(first posted 3/15/2017) Human beings are hard-wired to recognize faces. This causes us to see faces even in places where there are none, whether it is on Mars or on cars.
I think we’re all familiar with various happy-faced cars, whether it is the congenial smile of modern Mazda products, or the classic toothy grin of Austin-Healy “bug eye” Sprite.
That’s not what we are here to talk about today. The Ides of March are upon us, I’m looking for the worst angry, scowling, menacing, and generally “bad hombre” looking car countenances you can find.
What’s eating you?
I’m looking for Dracula’s personal car, like the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu, or Hannibal Lechter’s personal ride, the 2005 Kia Optima pictures above.
So fire up those search engines, and lay it on me!
Separated at birth?
…and
Reverse the headlights and you get a Bentley!
Just a joke
For me, the 1950 Buick. What were the designers thinking? It surpasses the 1958 Edsel in being bizarre.
Buick and DeSoto were in a contest at the time to sport the meanest-looking set of dentures.
The ’53 DeSoto had an even chunkier set of choppers.
My grandmother had one of these, then passed it on to my father. In my 60+ years it hasn’t gotten any better looking. When my dad got rid of the ’50 and came home with a ’60 Le Sabre, I could finally show my face when we rode through the neighborhood. What a relief.
imperial Malibu in white
I agree with your assessment of that Malibu, but wasn’t it a Dodge commercial that made that connection?
Priceless….
I haven’t seen the commercial but showed the guys in my office and they all immediately agreed, its uncanny the resemblance.
You cannot UN-SEE it now.
I’m going to say every single car made in the last 5 years. But the worst is the most recent, and complete with Dracula fangs!
The 2018 looks nicer, IMO, because the hood has been lowered considerably. That was my only complaint about the new Mustang.
The pic I posted is a 2018
I really want one of these as my next car. But my wife refuses to learn stick and I refuse to buy one with an auto.
Just buy it!
Once it is there, she will learn if it is hot enough. 🙂
yep. the 2015-2017 is terrible, and the 2018 somehow is even worse.
Sort of sideways with the subject here, but who among us does not agree that putting the eyeballs in the WINDSHIELDS in the “Cars” movies is just totally and unforgivably WRONG?
Any little human being at or over toddler age can look at almost any car and see a face there, and even the LED items of whatever shape are now and forever the eyes. So what were those guys thinking??
I remember reading somewhere that it was actually a considered decision on the part of the movie makers. It was some combination of eyes in the windshields being more expressive, headlights as eyes looking odd on some cars, and the fact that being a race car Lightning McQueen didn’t have real headlights (just stickers, as the characters themselves observe). Also maybe there was a copyright issue with those Chevron commercials, who knows.
Thank you Will! Glad I’m not the only person who was bothered by this.
I had heard somewhere that the designers consciously avoided putting the whole face on the front because it limited the dimension of the faces and expressions–it was just a car with the face pasted on the front.
Very true. The gravity of the expression will be very limited if the face is placed on front clip only, and the vehicle itself would be very snake like, if they don’t make the vehicle very tall and short.
“Human beings are hard-wired to recognize faces. This causes us to see faces even in places where there are none, whether it is on Mars or on cars.”
Pareidolia strikes deep. Into your life it will creep. ~ Paraphrased with apologies to Buffalo Springfield.
Dave in Tucson beat me to it with the ’50 Buick (first one to come to mind; actually the ’52 popped into my head, but I think he has it right with that angry looking ’50).
Other than that car, my picks for that angry look are as follows (plus maybe that car that played Christine – a Fury of similar vintage perhaps? ;o):
Good point about the ’52 Buicks. Their grilles make them look like whales with masses of baleen in their mouths.
Two of the worst.
Never noticed the similarity until now! I love both…
Hmmm, they seem to have something in common. But equally out there rear end makes the Plymouth totally work
And what’s inside is equally awesome.
You can outlive your childhood Flash Gorden dreams behind that cool wheel and dash.!
The new lexus lineup is terrible. They look like bloated electric shavers to me.
I’d much rather have the Plymouth…
’61 Plymouth was my first thought for old cars, some current Lexus for new ones. Spot on!
Really the whole thing is “worst” but the face is especially obnoxious.
I thought so too but they have a fan base
They are the “Frog Eye” cars of our time and sell quite well.
The subaru Tribeca is awful as is the taurus and those Cadillac dts monstrosities, and the aztec, the matador coupe.
Worst? Easy, the ’61 Fury. Love the car, but it’s mean-mugging to be sure.
“Don’t get too close…it’s angry!”
The equally unloved Karmann Ghia type 34, a german sibling, separated at birth, or cousin of the ’61 Plymouth Fury.
Another version of the Karmann Ghia type 34, further travels down the ’61 Fury rabbit hole.
I remember seeing these, and thinking “What…..?”
Looks like a millennial with too many piercings!!
New Lexuses. Some new Mazdas.
Anything Lexus with the “puckered lips” look. What happened? They may have looked too plain before, but in my eyes they were at least classy. I still wouldn’t mind owning a mid 90s LS400 or its variants.
Anyway, immediately what came to mind was not a car face but a steering wheel face.
This looks like a creepy clown, and I’m not just saying that because that was the trend buzz-word last year, but once I saw it when it first came out, I couldn’t un-see it when I first thought of it.
So, strike S-Class off my list too… unless I can have the wheel replaced with something else in the Mercedes line.
Haha, yeah it does!
That’s almost as disturbing as this NTB commercial that I cannot un-see:
Ugh. Anytime someone mentions an ugly steering wheel the Saturn Ion comes to mind. Its just so stupid. Like a chicken pot pie. Or an electric golf cart with a big puffy button in the middle. And sometimes i see a face with the dual horn buttons. All around yuck.
The 05-07 is better, Kalapana
Reminds me of the bumper car steering wheels with that huge round cushioned pad in the middle!
It was an instant turn off.
It looked like it came off a kiddy bumper car.
That Mercedes steering wheel reminds me of this.
Looks like a pissed off dog?
Toyota and Lexus need to stop this gaping maw nonsense. The only decent looking front end is on the Rav4.
You mean the Star Wars/storm trooper helmet look? You gotta be kidding me. I could never face such a sour-looking face every day.
Thought that was just a generic SUV front until I clicked on it. That’s bad!
That’s what drove my brother to ‘hoard’ the third-generation N180 4Runner. He has two 1998 in red for the weekend off-road driving and in silver for daily drive and family use.
Ugliest? This thing, hands down. Nothing even comes close.
Have to hand it to you, that is really, really, bad.
Agreed. Somehow simultaneously lacking in detail and having too much going on. This gets my vote.
But in it’s defence, you wouldn’t lose it in a car park. Looks like nothing else. Thankfully.
It actually looks much worse in other photos at other angles. But they did grasp the very serious error of their ways and did a facelift.
… and the facelift made you like the first much better.
The original was unique in its own way.
Often referred to the horse drawn carriage without the horse.
To each his own. I’m fine with the Multipla, form follows function … it’s wide for passenger hauling yet the hood-line is low for good outward visibility. By comparison (IMO) there’s nothing attractive about any modern Lexus. If you gave me one and told me I couldn’t sell it, I’d give it away. Or park it with the key (and signed pink slip) in it and a large “Please take me!” sign on it. That bad.
IMHO this is really fugly…
They really wrecked a beautiful car.
Yes the first-year 66 was stunning.
My choices – one from each of the big 3, and it was hard to narrow the field down to only 3. I chose the 61 Imperial because of the floating headlights – what are they attached to anyway? Also the hood overhang above the headlights just seems too heavy. I chose the 58 Lincoln with all the angles jutting out in all directions on the headlights and the bumper, it just seems to want to jump out of its skin. From the 70s I selected the 73 Grand Am – there are just too many concepts going on in that front end – grille louvers, a Cord like wedge down the middle, stripes and bulges abound. It looks like the business end of an upright vacuum cleaner. Just to top it off they made the rear wedge into a knife like sharpness, hence the moniker “Knife job”
Sweet, no one else has the ’61 Dodge yet…………(there should be a runoff vote)
I’m voting with all ten fingers for that monstrosity. The toes are needed to vote for a fairly long list of Bill Mitchell’s excrescences.
You mean Virgil Exner. Such a sad visage! But I’d still rather have it than the unfortunate 62 Dart and Polara.
Pfffft. They are all awesome. And the 1961 Dodge is even awesomer from the back.
I actually find the back of the ’61 Dodge sort of cool, and I’m surprisingly on board with the front of the ’61 Plymouth that has some negative votes here. In fact, the ’61 Plymouth front would probably fit better on this car.
Now, the ’61 Plymouth might get my vote for worst rear-end. Put the ’61 Dodge front on the ’61 Plymouth, and you’d have an X rated freak show.
That azz end is so bad it’s awesome!
No, I meant what I said: Bill Mitchell and his long string of unforgivably ugly GM cars.
As for the ’61 vs. the ’62 Dodge: suit yourself; I like the ’62s.
No, unfortunately he didn’t do the ’63 Valiant of ’67 Dart lol. He merely oversaw and had a major hand in the designs of some incredibly beautiful GM cars in the ’60s: the ’63 Riviera, ’63 Sting Ray, ’65 Corvair coupe, ’66 Toronado/Riviera, ’66-69 A bodies. He was outstanding in an era that was a peak of good US automotive design, in total perhaps more than any other US design chief ever, so to pick him out for special (specious?) derision is absurd.
It is an orangutang face
1978-80 Ford Granada/Mercury Monarch, I’ve thought the squared headlights and the grilles looked awful on these cars.
Dodge, the gift that keeps giving.
Pugly.
Frank!
He’s cute!
That’s not a Dodge. It’s a Ram.
Lancia?
Chevy Spark prior to last years redesign.
I have a soft spot for Subies but this was a head scratcher.
Because it’s an obvious rip-off of the classic Alfa Romeo grille?
Please don’t tell me it’s because you think it looks like a “flying vagina”. Because nobody ever thought that until one click-bait seeking automotive writer (Robert Farago) called it that. Do I need to attach an image of a vagina to confirm that it doesn’t look like one? The Tribeca grille is actually wider than it is long. Have you ever seen a vagina that was wider than long? On second thought, don’t answer that. 🙂
Actually I always saw early 60s Saab in the Tribeca. The Alfa grill is upside down in relation.
Agree. You beat me to it!
Agreed it’s shaped more like the Saab. My point was primarily another one, as in that the Alfa grille looks a whole lot more like a vagina than the Tribeca’s, but I don’t remember anyone ever calling it a vagina.
Oops. Next time I should read too, and not just reply to the pictures….
Good call. Except of course the Saab is cute and cuddly and endearingly awkward, while the Sube is awful.
The Tribeca’s nose always reminded me of a toilet seat. And that was before I thought of the Edsel.
I about spat my coffee all over my screen! Thanks for the laugh, Paul!
Well, there is this:
As a kid, I remember reading that one reason (of many) for the Edsel’s demise was the styling, in particular that the grille looked like a horse collar. Except even in the early sixties i suspect most Americans had no idea what a horse collar was. In hindsight, I wonder if that also spread from just a single writer’s opinion, like the Tribeca-genitalia comparison.
Vagina doesn’t look like that unless from a specific angle. But when it does, it really looks like vagina.
(I won’t post a picture here but scroll down the google search a little bit to see that particular angle)
Yes, the ’58 Edsel grille viewed from a slight angle rather than straight on was pure vag. I can’t unsee it.
Perhaps as a designer’s practical joke since by 1960 the Edsel’s rep was beyond salvage – or just to even things up gender-wise – an early prototype of the ’60 Edsel (made before it was decided to use a Ford bumper and other shared parts to save money) looked decidedly phallic. The car in this photo was built to replicate one seen in studio photos from 1959; the original prototype in the B&W photos (if it ever progressed beyond a clay) is assumedly long gone.
It’s also bad from the back. I believe they hired a designer who used to work at Lancia. The rear looks just like some Lancia and the front looks as bad as one.
Ahh. The Subaru Treblinka.
Nothing beats the 1962 Dodge Dart face for pure mutant horror.
that one was on my short list too
It’s like some horror from an HP Lovecraft story
This one is a true horror story, even worse than the ’60
Plymouth. Exner must have had a spate of nightmares circa 1959. Perhaps a symptom of his dodgy ticker.
Fortunately, they fixed it for 1963. “The only problem with the front is that the inner lights are too high. Make ’em lower.”
They also got rid of the little angry eyebrows over the main lamps, which helped tremendously.
Maybe, but the `61 Rambler Ambassador will give it a good run for it`s money.
+1. Snouts and warts. What was he thinking?
Probably going to get some backlash on this one, but I nominate the 1998 Lincoln Town Car. Compared to the outgoing 1997’s stately elegance, the entire 1998 was a letdown, looking like a melted caricature. The front end, however, was the least attractive element, with the giant cat-eye headlights. As someone once put it, it looked like a face sucking on a lemon.
Fun fact, if you wonder where Lincoln started its decline in the market, they show a picture of this car next to the phrase “Slide into irrelevancy”.
I agree with you, at least the photo you posted is in a darker color. Imagine the same face with that gunmetal grey and silver colors that these Town Cars always came in, and it looks even worse.
The face of the 49 Lincoln reminds me of a near death cow with its sunken eyes and frowning grill. I wish I knew how to post pictures.
Here you go. I don’t care. Also awesome.
Thanks! I read one time that the 49 was intended to have hidden headlights but there were problems with the execution of them so they didn’t go into production. A great looking car otherwise.
That hidden lamp idea makes perfect sense. The effect with them would be quite different….wonder if anybody has ever done a custom to that effect? (Could also easily be photoshopped.)
I never knew that, that definitely would have been better. As is however, I’d rather have the Mercury face
It almost looks like they designed it as the 1998 full-size Edsel and Lincolnized the grille at the last possible second.
No backlash from me about it. The ’98+ Clown Car looks ridiculous (pretentious and hosey) from any and every angle.
… well, that is what happens, when you insist on having the basic design running thoughout all cars including the top of the line.
The latter should be unique in every way.
Yikes. I never though of that, but now won’t be able to look at a Town car the same way.
what came first, the chicken or the egg?
I mostly find the pre-facelift Rover 75 gorgeous – I was ready to buy one if they sent them stateside which they considered but never did. But I did find the cut lines at the front of the side fenders a bit odd, as if the all-new design was a facelift of an earlier design with wraparound side markers and a single almost-rectangular headlamp rather than two round ones that were eliminated for the car seen here. Or maybe they were thinking of making it easy to adopt that look in the future.
I think most here will agree the ’98 Town Car was a let-down. They should have allowed the ’90 version to live out the life of the Panther platform. Lincoln was the only brand of the Panther to get three unique bodies, and I suppose as the luxury version, it was the right thing to try an update. Just unfortunate in hindsight.
It looks like a crazy clown to me. I know most visualize headlights as eyes and the grille as the mouth or nose, but there are some designs where the whole sum of parts of a front end look like a single facial feature, and these Town cars headlights and grille combined make a creepy joker grin.
Hardcore Panther lover here, and I concur.
If cars grew up and became flabby and bloated and had a pissed off sour look like some people do the 98 lincoln is a Chrysler Lhs new Yorker that got bigger flabbier, pissed off and lost its looks.
You make me very, very angry.
Looks like a guy with big eyebrows smoking two cigars at once.
Hahahah, Mike, now I can’t un-see it. I used to just see an angry face.
2008-2013 Mazda 3 with the enormous open mouth. (Sorry I can’t figure out how to upload a photo.)
Is this what you are referring to???
Been making its rounds on the internet for some time.
There’s another one with two buck teeth in the middle of the grille
Yes Thanks
That one just has a silly grin. Kind of endearing when you look at it for a while. Not an example of “worst angry face”…
To upload a picture here it has to be a .jpg, preferably web-sized like 800×600. It’s a WordPress thing.
Actually (and unfortunately for our server) any size is acceptable.
I’ve had trouble uploading from my mobile devices over the last several months, but not my PC weirdly.
Have you tried your microwave ??
I’m not Inspector Gadget!
PAYKAN&SAMAND Would Probably Qualify To Be THE Ugliest Car Faces On The Planet.
This “Packard” Crown Vic.
Ok, that’s just wrong on about 11 different levels!
Here is another one in the same category.
Maybach Exelero
Only waiting for Cruella de Vil to step op.
This Saab goes under the name “Dame Edna” here.
That is awesome. I’ll never look at these the same again!
The 74-78 Matador. It’s all about knowing when to stop with a good idea.
Another one I would nominate. This looks good from absolutely no angles and it clashes badly with what is otherwise a very bland design.
Didn’t AMC do this so that they could advertise a longer length?
Kind of like a pop-out grill for those times when ya just need one. Only, now it’s stuck and won’t fold back in…
Well, this is actually the prettier one – from the grill to the b pillar.
Never understood the rear design of these cars.
They sold comparatively well here as wagons due to tax rules, and the car as a whole looked OK as a wagon with this particular crome grill.
Probably the worst mug of the ’70s. Seeing one in the metal, especially in the lower trims, always raised two questions: Why would anyone sign off on this design, and how on earth did they get any consumer sales? Apparently there were a few Rambler / AMC loyalists out there.
I have never seen a satisfactory explanation for why they could never adapt the 74 Ambassador front (which had a very restrained and tasteful bulge) after the Ambassador was cancelled for 1975. The Matador version looked like a cartoon.
I have never seen a satisfactory explanation for why they could never adapt the 74 Ambassador front
I asked Vince Geraci about that front end at the local AMC owners meet a couple years ago. He was head of interior design in the 70s so he did not know. He referred me to Pat Foster, who is compiling a huge stash of AMC info for a new book. Foster e-mailed back to me that the bumps on the front of both the Matador and Ambassador were to make them look longer. Nothing more.
I would surmise that, as the Matador was shorter than the Amby, the big wheels figured it needed a longer bump. As to putting the Amby bump on the Matador after the Amby was dropped, that would be a no go. All the length difference was ahead of the firewall, so the Amby hood was too long to go on a Matador.
Another. It was a sad thing when stylists from one of the Big 3 of the early 1960s could make a Studebaker look attractive in comparison.
I’m weird, that’s actually in my top favorite truck faces
Than I’m weird too, as if that wasn’t already obvious.
Me three, including in re the ’61-’64 Dodge/Fargo trucks.
The 1961 Dodge truck face was actually worse. Dodge made a hasty facelift for 1962.
And the “Sweptline” generation (1961-71) got lots of facelifts over the years.
Here a 1970 D100 with “The Dude” package
Yeah, the ’61 was…not quite finished yet.
I actually like the mesh grille here better than the 62’s more “designed” piece. Going with the “face” theme, the ’61 seems to be wearing a peculiar grin whereas the ’62 looks rather unimpressed.
I actually prefer the ’61-64 quad headlight setup to the bug-eyed twin headlights on the ’65-67 models. But the ’68-71s are superior to either IMO.
…could make a Studebaker look attractive in comparison.
I think Studebaker trucks look just fine, and the Champ best of all.
Are you ready?
Worst: 1962 Dodge, 1956-57 Nash & Hudson, 1970 Full-size Pontiac, 1968 full-size Ford and Thunderbird (no face), a couple of ’50s French cars, but I don’t know what they are, (not the Panhard Dyna, which is very cute), 1958-59 Edsel (I go back and forth on that one). I never liked the Airflow…
I actually LIKE ’61 Plymouth (looks better in person), ’61 Imperial, ’59 Buick & Dodge, ’58 Lincoln, and would own any of them!
Oh yeah
Citroen Ami. I love these, but the frontal treatment always reminds me of foreskin. Sorry.
I forgot to mention these space aliens:
https://assets.hemmings.com/blog/wp-content/uploads//2013/02/1958Edsel_01_2000.jpg
Even when these cars were new people made jokes about what this resembled, but in those days they were told pretty much between friends.
It looks like it’s sucking a lemon.
Maserati 5000 GT
That would be on my list. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/snapshot-from-1961-maserati-5000-the-maserati-3500s-ugly-but-fast-big-sister/
About 10 years back I read an opinion peace about that in a non-car magazine. It compared car faces with animals. I’ll leave it to you to conclude what animal the Scorpio resembles most (certainly not a scorpion), most animals that look like this aren’t known for their intelligence.
Should have been called the Ford Fugu.
It was nicknamed the Chief O’Hara (Politimester Strix) car here 🙂
1955-56 GMC.
Fish face:
I always thought the Mini Pacman was pretty homely.
I always thought the original design or re-design of a GM car was good then it was like they passed a freshen up to a junior designer as to not offend the original one. Like the last generation of Cavalier.
This looked OK.
Amen. The sad sack refresh of 03 was heinous. Like adding fiberglass fins and headlight pods to a Studebaker and selling it as a 58 Packard.
I bought my 99 because of the looks, price, economy and yester-tech mechanicals.
The 2 door is especially good looking
Then we got this.
I’m pretty sure are other much worse examples, just that my wife had a nice looking 2002. Then the freshen up ruined it even though it was the same car. The Pontiac started bad then got worse.
That’s a classic “a facelift too far” look.
It wasn’t just a GM thing. This one started out with a questionable face
Then got a nice clean facelift
Then this goofy face that doesn’t really match the rest of the car at all
I’ve actually never seen a facelifted MN-12 Cougar before.
Now that I look at it, I wish I never saw it.
The Alfa Giulia’s long-lost great-uncle? (The 1997 Cougar was the first thing that came to mind when the Giulia was first revealed, and I still can’t un-see it.)
Sorry Christopher. This one looks as generic and anonymous as a Nissan Sentra.
But I get your point.
*Bias alert* I totally agree 😀
The 1951 GM LeSabre was one of the ugliest concept cars. Looks like it has a big wart on the forehead.
I’m surprised no one has yet nominated the Panhard Dyna that appears to have sucked a lemon….
I always thought these looked more like they pulled out their tongues at the car in front. Besides, the production version was not too bad when you consider the station wagon made by Pichon&Parat in 1959… now that’s awful!
Oh my! The poor little thing. That’s got to be the most cartoonish face ever.
This Panhard convertible, which was exhibited just next to the wagon at the ’58 Paris Motor Show, was possibly even worse.
Pichon & Parat (tied with Spohn) made some of the ugliest bespoke cars ever, though not all their designs were this terrible.
That may just be the winner here today. Amazing.
The headlight trim looks like stock 57 Chevy pieces.
Tough question, there’s been some pretty ugly faces over the years. I could name a whole list of them, if I could remember them without shuddering in horror.
I guess the worst one I can think of is the fourth gen Camaro. I called it the Catfish-Maro all the time, and for good reason.
To me the previous Camaros look like a damn supository…
A dishonorable mention I also wish to add is the 1960 Imperial. The only reason I don’t count it among the worst, is because of just how goofy looking it is. But, attractive it is not.
This one looks like a squinty eyed fast talking used car salesman too me.
Dead eyed with a fake smile. Bleh.
Reminds me of Joel
IT STINKS!
Let’s not confuse ugliness with CHARACTER.
Well now this is very interesting, some cars I just love are up there. Early 60’s Dodge truck, 62 Dart, 1959 Buick.
I always disliked the Chrysler Airflow front. It’s not angry or menacing, just sort of sad sack…
It looks like a it has a giant A/C unit stretched over its face, now I know why it’s called the Airflow.
Nah, the Airflow is cute, reminds me of Casper the Friendly Ghost
How about the Isuzu VehiCross?
The entire vehicle is both a caricature and a forerunner of what this market segment would devolve into. But I love the silver fangs!
Uh oh…
I know I may be in the minority but I’ve never liked the front end of the 1970 Ford Mustang’s, I wished the headlights were closer to the sides of the car.
+1! – of the two similar years of Mustangs, the 1969 looks MUCH nicer than the 1970!
I’ve always liked the front end of the 1969 Mustang’s and thought they’ve ruined the looks for the 1970 Mustang by not having the headlights close to the side of the car.
Agree on this one. Headlights mounted too far inboard seldom look good.
Always hated that year of Mustang with those useless scoops instead of headlights.
Is it my imagination but Honda got their frontend more chromed cars and CUV like the Civic and CRV than before?
Grandma, what big eyes you have!
Toyota, what are you doing to the formerly no-nonsense Corolla?
Looks like fat, bulging cheeks.
With that emblem drooping over the bumper, it reminds me of the ” Kilroy was here” cartoon drawing. The nose being the emblem.
As I’m going thru a British car phase at the mo, I’ll start with the “Fishface” Daimler SP250 (made even worse with the fanged bumper).
Tied with the 1960 Lea Francis Lynx, which looks terrible from any angle. Plus it was painted mauve, with gold-plated chrome. The East-German Wartburg in the background seems to look on with a grin, thinking “If zat is ze best you Britishers can do, we will bury you!”
As to American cars, much as I find many Exner designs give me an upset stomach, the worst of them all has to be this.
AUWM likened the Packard Hawk to a mutant catfish.
Many here find French cars weird-looking, and I suppose they are, but some are just terrible. My nomination (because the Ami 6 was already mentioned above), is the 1978 Citroen Visa. In France, these are called “groin de cochon” (pig snout)…
Wow. If you had covered the logo, I’d assume this was some Eastern-bloc car.
Well, if we’re looking in that direction, I’d nominate the 1969 Sachsenring P240 Repräsentant (only two made, fortunately, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the GDR’s founding).
Reminds me of a baleen whale!
The Toyota Mirai.
The power of the dark side…
How has nobody mentioned the upside-down-face ’77-79 LeBaron yet?
https://i2.wp.com/www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1977-Chrysler-LeBaron.jpg
Those remind me of the facelifted, similarly “upside-down” first-generation Mountaineer’s face.
Eugh. I also don’t like how everything is separated off in its own little egg-crate compartment.
Lets not forget “Racoon Face”
The 2007-2009 Suzuki XL7 always reminded me of a raccoon as well.
1970 Mercury Cyclone GT – whassup with the gunsite nose?
Another Bunkie Beak
That’s where you mounted the exterior speaker for your CB radio.
Original (2006) SsangYong Rodius
As much as I dig these little toasters, that front end…
Here’s one from the opposite end: Chrysler 200S. That’s one sad butt.
I rather liked the 200. As for the 500L, probably the face is the least offensive thing about it. I looked at the 500, L and X at the Detroit show. Every one of them had glaring ergonomic issues that made me wonder what they were thinking.
The car guaranteed to preserve your celibacy… The Datsun B210 or 120y in ROW…
Not as scary as the F10 posted earlier.
The mid 70s Toyota Crown made an impression on me.
This Gp …
As It’s just This Gp, that made a duckface for the camera
BMW E46 3-series Coupe. It’s so weak and feeble. Doesn’t relate to any other BM past or present.
That’s actually the “BMW Compact” 3-door liftback. It was intentionally positioned as a more affordable model and lacked the more powerful engines of other E46 3-Series bodystyles. Therefore, it was intentionally less substantial. That said, I agree that the Compact, along with M-B’s W203 SportCoupe don’t really fit my mind of what BMWs or Mercedes are.
The regular E46 coupe looked much more substantial and from personal experience was still rather fun to drive, though I prefer the styling of its immediate E36 predecessor and E92 successor.
You’re right, I’d forgotten it had a different designation. Interesting idea, to change the car’s face so that your friends can be absolutely certain you’ve bought the cheapest model. Opposite to the long-established German “no badges” option, when no one (apart from the bufferati) knows what you’ve got under the bonnet.
I’ve also never liked the grille design on the 1972 full sized Chevy’s or the 1971-72 full sized Pontiac’s, while most front end’s of the 1973 vehicles are inferior to the front end’s of the previous years I’ve thought the 1973 front end of the full sized Chevy’s/Pontiac’s were an improvement over the 1972 front end’s.
There are a million cars that have a horrid face but for me the 2002 BMW 7 Series with its stupid “indicators on top” face is easily the worst styling feature of the past decade or so. incredibly BMW somehow made it worse with the 6 Series bottom feeder headlights.
IMO it’s easier to list the *successful* applications of turn signals above headlights. Apart from cars that blend everything into a single clear-lensed all-chrome-reflector unit, the mid ’70s Ford pickups are the only ones I can think of.
The 65 Ford Pickups also placed the turn signals above the headlights and it looked fine.
Agree that it’s hard to design a front end with indicators (turn signals) mounted above the headlights. But IMO, the 61 Chevy is another car that works in this respect.
The year this particular BMW was new, we happened to see it in a car shop in London, behind The Dorthester.
The dealer had kept it in a remote corner in the back, away from the display towards Park Lane.
And to think they did this after the superb balance and elegance of the E38.
This is my pick for the saddest looking front end ever put on a car.
A 59 Buick has to be the most angry looking car in the history of automobiles.
Sonic, Aveo, Equinox, Malibu, Trax as well any other Chevrolet from the previous range.
1960 Ford Galaxie has to be on the list somewhere…
AMC did not get much mention. Here’s a bug eyed Matador.
Oh come on! That looks positively brilliant compared to the 1977-79 Pacer (where they bulged the grille and hood upward to cover the optional V8).
Normally I’d probably agree but you managed to find the most flattering pic of a matador on the internet and I’m kinda liking it!
They were trying to copy the Monte Carlo’s headlight bulges that receded into the hood (obviously not successfully).
The facelifted Brazilian Simcas for 1967 looked unique in their akwardness and “what does this has to do with anytking” styling school.
Lincoln MKX. A grill for krill. Apparently inspired by the baleen whale.
1961 Ambassador. 74 Matador four door [the absolute worst year : electric shaver grille and bull’s eye turn indicators ]. 61 Rambler American. Curent Yaris
Sorry. Picture didn’t upload
Here
The weirdest thing about that face was it just didn’t fit the rest of the car. A bit of early ’60s weirdness on a stuck in the mid ’50s car.
My parents had a ’60 rambler 6, and seeing ’61 Ambassador would give me tummy aches, 😉 I was 4
Could have been designed by Picasso.
Or maybe Salvatore Dali
I remember seeing this in a car magazine Dad had, and remember wondering why anybody made something so ugly. Sixty years later it still looks awful – like parts from about three different cars welded together.
Ironic that a picture of a Mirai appears just above the Comments section. Is it nominating itself? Smart car indeed.
This Hyundai Tiburon started ugly and then suffered from botched plastic surgery.
For me it is a tie between the 55-59 Chevy Task Force pickup and the 1960-1966 First Gen Chevy C/K pickup truck for the worst face. However to me the Task Force trucks are truly ugly. They have that stubby look to them that looks out of place.
By contrast the Chevy Advance Design that the Task Forced replaced was one of the most attractive truck design ever.
The 2nd gen C/K is a very attractive truck also.
“This Panhard convertible, which was exhibited just next to the wagon at the ’58 Paris Motor Show, was possibly even worse.”
Wow… what were they thinking? It does sort of remind of what AMC did when they stuffed a V8 in the Pacer (as far as the hood changes).The Daimler SP250 is worth a (dis)honorable mention too.
Heres my pick for meanest looking car. I always wanted one of these…
OK, I’ll bite…ugly car faces:
Current/recent:
2013-16 Honda CR-V: Duck-billed platypus with four wheels.
Current Toyota 4-Runner: Openings below headlights look like someone had their face slashed with a razor blade. Model with chrome bar looks like giant band-aid.
2004-07 Honda Accord: Homely beyond redemption.
Current Ram pickups w/o classic Dodge crosshair grille: Egads. One model looks like a bulldog, the other, like someone shot two holes in its face with a cannon.
Current Silverado: Some grills look like a chain-link fence…literally makes me ill to see. Other treatments make it look like it has the mumps.
2000 Ford Windstar: speaking of a vehicle with the mumps…most notable on highest trim level.
Current Lexus…ALL of them with that pinch grill. Design language becomes design violence.
2004 Malibu: Like a GM stylist projectile-vomited and they drew in it. Only the rear view of the Maxx looks halfways decent.
Current Honda Civic: The chrome bar in the grille looks like steer horns.
I think the Kia Optima pictured above is a 2002-2003. Sickening.
Ugliest in history:
Entire 1954 ChryCo line except DeSoto…what were they thinking?
1976 Matador 4-door: Jimmy Durante, after death, reinterpreted as a car.
1953 Chevrolet: 2004 Accord is the answer to the ’53 Chevy. (’54 was VAST improvement.)
1958-60 Lincoln: how to make an Edsel pretty by comparison.
1956-57 Hudson: V-line THIS, Edmund Anderson!
1958 Packard Hawk: Packard Tuna is more like it.
All Citroen Amis…every last one of them.
1978 AMC Concord: Oh, the horror!
1973 Chevelle: DOT-mandated battering rams ruin potentially attractive design.
1967-68 Plymouth Valiant: Another inspiration for 2004 Accord. AND at least two generations of Camry.
Surprised no one’s mentioned the Kaiser Darrin yet. That’s the original lemon-sucker of a grille ~
Any late model Lexus.
Am I really the only one to see the resemblance between the 2009 Dodge Nitro…
…and this?
Turn that frown upside down:
Which is the Beluga and which is the Infiniti?
This one?
Or this one?
This rodent looks like it’s about to build a dam
Those are some ugly cars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There was a ’94 Nissan Sentra in David Saunders’ Cuba trip pictures the other day that could be a relative of Mater from the Pixar movie “Cars”.
While I appreciate Cuban ingenuity, that car was just plain ugly…
The bland Fiat Strada/Ritmo nose, always left me feeling cold. Generic, much like the Rivian nose IMO.
`61 Rambler Ambassador
` 58 Buick
Pontiac Aztek, ’58 Edsel, ’58 Packard Hawk, ’59 Dodge, ’61 Plymouth, Citroen Ami, ’82 Ford EXP, 96-99 Ford Taurus and Sable, too many recent cars, SUVs, and trucks with monster grilles to cite just one; some foreign market Corollas and other bugeye cars, all cars with clown smiley faces like decade-old Mazdas or Lanham “car conversions”.
Or these Toyotas:
The 1996-1999 Ford Taurus.
Although one could argue that generation Sable was a decade too soon as opposed to outright disaster.
1976-77 Plymouth Grand Fury, I thought the single headlights did not look right on a full sized car, I like the 1974-75 dual headlights a lot better.
Has no one yet mentioned the EXP/LN7 twins with their sad eyes?
A face not even a mother would love
The original Sad Sack: ’54 Olds
(’55 was a major improvement)
WOW! 291 posts.
Well, thanks to all of you from incept until 2023, I have had my laughs today. Great comments and ways to look at horrid designs.
And worst of all…..
Honestly, why DO people buy these things? Don’t they ever look at the front?
Words not necessary
Others have posted recent BMWs but this really drives home the point.